The present invention relates to an improved data processing system, and more particularly, to a web-based docketing system that enables users to create, review, approve, store and forward documents. More specifically, the invention relates to an intellectual property management system that solicits inventions, dockets the invention, and enables collaboration between inventors, attorneys, searchers, draftsmen, patent offices and others through a web-based interface.
In many companies, paper submission of forms such as invention disclosures are routinely used. Commonly these paper disclosures are mailed to a central location where they are logged into a system and provided to a patent coordinator or the corporate attorney. In large companies having several offices, these invention disclosures are mailed to the patent department or the patent coordinator. The paper systems are burdensome on staff and the disclosure documents may be subject to loss, misplacement or a misrouting error.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a substantially automated invention disclosure submissions process. Various aspects of such a process may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,247,661, 5,276,869, 5,317,683, and 5,377,355. These patents all describe various aspects of a data processing system. One drawback to this system described in these patents is that it is an electronic mail (email)-based system. Documents are transmitted back and forth between various locations. The system requires client software on individual user machines. This is particularly cumbersome in a large corporate environment having multiple locations in multiple countries. The drawback being that as migration to new updated software packages is performed, the users in all locations may not have the proper software to access the system. Therefore, certain disclosures may not ever be made due to the inconvenience. The prior patents also describe that the documents are transmitted to each user's machine for processing. Such a system, however, requires high bandwidth to support the exchange of documents from the central location to the user. Such a system, particularly in large corporations, is impractical since large bandwidth allocations for such a system are not desirable ways to use system resources.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an on-line invention disclosure system that does not require high bandwidth or the need for each user to have special software.
Corporate patent departments also typically maintain a docketing system. The docketing system keeps track of the disclosures as they are processed by the patent department. The docketing system maintains the status of disclosures for the patent attorneys and patent coordinators and of any patent applications originating therefrom. Various due dates of the docket system are also tracked. Typically, inventors must call the patent department to determine the status of their invention disclosure because the docket system is inaccessible to them. This process is also time consuming for staff. It would therefore be desirable to provide a system capable of automatically notifying and/or allowing inventors to access some or all of the information in a corporate docketing system so that the status may be readily determined by the inventors.
Typically, invention disclosures are searched prior to preparing a patent application therefrom. Commonly, the disclosures are read and a computer or manual search is performed sometime after the disclosure is submitted. Also, the inventors typically have little input to the process. It would also be desirable to perform a search during the invention disclosure submission process. Consequently, it would also be desirable to allow the inventor to participate or help direct the search.
In paper type systems and in the systems above, one inventor is responsible for preparing the invention disclosure document. It is presumed that concurrence has been achieved between the author of the invention disclosure and the other inventors. Oftentimes this is not achieved and the invention disclosure is processed according to company policies without concurrence. It would therefore be desirable to provide an automated invention disclosure system that does-not allow the disclosure to be processed until concurrence has been reached by each of the inventors.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (UTPTO) has recently introduced systems to receive electronic patent and trademark applications. The electronic patent filing process requires that users have a software system called ePAVE (electronic packaging and validation engine). This system requires that the user enter specific information regarding the application such as the invention title, number of claims, inventor names and addresses and the specification and drawings. The ePAVE system creates several files in a format known as XML (extensible markup language). These XML files contain the various data fields that identify specific portions of the application. These fields are referred to as metadata. Heretofore, the user was required to manually enter the metadata fields into the USPTO web page. These metadata fields are normally already included in the user's own docketing database. This process increased the time needed to prepare and file an electronic application and increased the possibility of errors due to manually retyping the metadata fields.
The current electronic filing process also did not anticipate updating the user's database from information obtained from the USPTO. Items such as serial number, filing date, office actions and due dates were not provided in an electronic format that facilitated updating the user's records.
The electronic filing process also includes submitting scanned copies of declarations and assignments. This requires the difficult and time consuming task of obtaining paper documents from multiple inventors in different locations. The electronic documentation is transmitted to the USPTO as an image that cannot be parsed and automatically entered as a RECORD field in either the user's or the USPTO's database.
Most existing docketing systems remain client/sever where a central sever computer houses the data and users have client software that interfaces with the server. This software architecture requires that the server and users have a direct network connection and utilize the same or compatible operating system. This architecture is difficult to maintain when large number of users in many locations require access to a central server.
Finally, the USPTO still requires that paper copies of prior art reference be forwarded with the electronic application. This is true for commonly available references such as US and foreign patent. Providing scanned copies of prior art, while not yet allowed by the Epave system would be cumbersome and time consuming. A single prior art reference may be needed in many applications. Each application WOULD require a copy of the prior art document.